


an escapist in its natural habitat

by ogenkiyuki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Attraction, krtsk, kurotsuki - Freeform, kurotsukki - Freeform, lnkrtskfest2020, luna noir, mild pining, tsukki is kinda me though, tsukki is trying his best at adulting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26546827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ogenkiyuki/pseuds/ogenkiyuki
Summary: Life's real hard when you're twenty-something and you're stuck thinking you haven't achieved anything yet.It suddenly gets even harder when a stranger starts asking you for a hug.(Part of LunaNoir KRTSKFEST 2020)
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49
Collections: Luna & Noir: KuroTsuki Fest 2020





	an escapist in its natural habitat

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #28: Strangers who got stuck inside a cafe during a storm, decided to spend time huddled together for warmth.  
> Rating: General Audience  
> Genre: Fluff, Humor, Romance, Slice of Life  
> Category: Baker/Coffeeshop  
> What they would like to be included: Cute banter

  
  


Dark clouds hovered ominously above Sendai–

  
And _ah_ , Kei thought, the heavens must have been trying to remind him of how glum his life has turned out to be.

  
It wasn't that disastrous as he thought it was though. He'd been a cheerful child and a competitive spirit during his early life, but ever since he chose to purse this lifelong calling of attaining a PhD for some reason he couldn't even remember anymore, his soul had continuously trickled away from his body.

  
PhDs _are_ a cool thing for some high school kid, yeah. That's until you're actually the one trying to chase them and you feel like that your youth is just wasting away just for some fancy titles added to your name. He had learned it the hard way, and by himself, as his other acquaintance moved on to some other interesting things that didn't require burying themselves in books or slaving for research grants.

  
To be fair, some of his friends did warn him. Yachi and Yamaguchi tried to win him over to engineering or elsewhere that would actually have palpable results compared to chasing the wonders of Archaeology. Hinata once invited him to tryout on their volleyball team as he was a well-known middle blocker from high school. Even his own brother Aki (probably the one who has fully witnessed how the slowly transitioned to this lifeless twenty-something) tried to pry him off the academe.

  
But no, Kei _is_ Kei. 

  
And if there was anything that kept him crawling forward, it was his pride. He was past the point of being a defeatist and there was this itch of proving everyone that he could actually attain his goals that needed scratching. It was a part of him that he liked and hated, too.

  
In that search of greater knowledge, he'd spend most of his days in this non-descript cafe, tucked away from the constant hustle and bustle of the world outside. It was his very own paradise. No one else ever frequents the tacky space except for him, his books, and his laptop to the point that the old man who owned the place treats him as his own (which bothered him at first). 

  
Well–not really _just_ him. There was this other shady looking dude who had a habit of throwing him these strange, intense glances every time he chances upon him. The man, clad in varying shades of black coats and suits, would sit in the dimly-lit corner which only attributed to how dodgy he seemed to be. Hushed phone calls were the staple for the guy, and at times he'd grunt in disapproval or hum in agreement, but he rarely ever talked aloud. He seemed to be not that older than Kei though, and he seemed _very, very, very rich_ judging from the Breitling watches he always wore (whose costs are ten times over his yearly dorm rent).

  
It was puzzling why a well-off person would choose to cramp himself up instead of chilling in luxurious lounges, but the young researcher decided it was really not his business. His business was finishing the first draft of his dissertation and find someone to back him with a grant over his love for some damned prehistoric creatures.

***

As the rain threatened to pour that day, the tall blonde found himself back in the cafe, sipping his usual latte with a side of strawberry mille-feuille. 

  
Him and sweets always had an amicable relationship, and they were some of the few things that could lift his spirits up during a raging hurricane. Plus, he'd actually forgotten his umbrella in the library he'd been an hour ago, but with the weather relentlessly throwing a tantrum, he'd rather be stuck enjoying a drink and his favorite pastry than sulk in the haunted corners of the reserved section.

  
When the first drops pelted against the weathered roof, a gust of wind slammed against the entrance's frame that made the chimes on the almost-empty cafe's door ring and break the silence. It made Kei avert his eyes from his laptop to the peaking storm outside; it was just 3PM but the weather made it look like it's almost nighttime. Another loud thud followed, after which man with a tall stature walked in, murmuring "ふざけんな" gingerly as he trudged.

  
Ah, of course it was _the_ man. The one he would always share wee the space with, only that his jet black hair was slicked back presumably with rain water and his suit was almost totally drenched. 

_Bad luck as well, huh. Is he sick?_

  
Kei, through his frequent indirect brushes with the stranger, had unconsciously noted the guy's face was sallow instead of the usual glowing tan he had. His ironed-out suit was uncharacteristically disheveled, and his pants were randomly banded with mud. What he really didn't realize though, was that he was observing longer than he normally would, too long that he was brought agaze into the light brown irises a few feet away from him, and that he couldn't even count on his spectacle's glare to obstruct his intent. 

  
Their eyes met, the man raised his brows in interest, and for the first time nodded towards his direction before settling to his corner. Kei's heart did several somersaults inside his chest. The acknowledgement shocked him like a deer caught in the headlights.

  
_Unbelievable. What in the hell was I thinking? Did that just...?_

  
He tried his best to immerse himself back on his research, but for some reason his throat felt really dry in a sense that his cold latte couldn't quench it. It also didn't help that he could feel the man's scrutiny still lingering in his direction (or maybe he was being paranoid). 

  
The easiest way out would be pretending that the other didn't exist like how he always did, of course.

Except that a loud crackle from the skies took down the ran-down establishment's electricity, and only light sources that remained was whatever the storm allowed outside, the laptop screen, and its outline on his and the man's figure.

"Oh, bugger."

  
The owner slowly peeked from the behind the cashier. Kei could imagine how apologetic his face must be just by how he spoke. "Are you alright there, lads? I'm sorry, I'll just try and get the generator running, I'm really sorry."

  
"It's fine, grandpa." He quietly replied, and the other dude in the suit added up with, "Don't worry pops, I ain't scared of the dark."

  
And _oh_ , the voice was smooth and deep and rich, like hot chocolate on a winter's night.

  
So there he was, instead of forgetting about the other's presence, the drop of the temperature from the lack of functioning thermostat and the darkness made him all aware of nothing else but the other guy, whose vision seemingly had been transfixed to the bright tufts of hair on his head. 

  
Suddenly, the pitterpatter from the storm was just whispers compared to the light drumming in his chest.

  
_...Talk about good timing. I hate this so much, I hate this...._

"You oks?"

  
It didn't take too long for the silence to be quelled; the grimace in the Kei's face was replaced with slight panic when he saw the man shift through his peripheral, and was in fact directly addressing him. When he kept his mouth shut, thinking that he was just imagining things, the raven-haired guy leaned closer few good inches from the shadows and asked once more.

  
"Hey, you, blondie, you alright–"

  
"You need something?" He shot back with a glare. He hated being called as such like his high-school classmates did. He also disliked being talked to out of nowhere because unpremeditated conversations ticked him off. Clearly socializing wasn't his best suit because if he was good at it, he wouldn't have his current sponsorship predicaments, anyway.

  
Through the illumination from the windows he could see how the man's brows arched in what appeared to amusement. 

  
"Maybe, maybe not," Which he interrupted with a sniffle. "Depends on you."

  
"Don't you think it's churlish to have that attitude towards people you don't know?"

"I _do_ know you, not by name," He said it matter-of-factly, "But we're both here all the time."

"Well, that's..." True. The cafe was not that big for the man to not notice his presence in the first place. "You are not my friend though."

"That. Can easily be changed–" The rest of the man's words were cut off when he pulled his dress shirt up to mute his sneeze. 

"Oh for frick's sake. Ugh. I was saying, we can always change that. My name's Kuroo Tetsurou." He made sure he extended a clean hand across the space, not the one he just snuffled into. "Nice to talk to you...?"

  
Kei almost wanted to just turn back to his unfinished documents just to mock the guy and not give him the satisfaction, but for some reason he breached his own privacy bubble to take the outstretched grasp. 

"Tsukishima," Tetsurou tilted his head slightly when he stopped, "Kei."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it, Tsukki?" The man slowly stood up and stretched to take off his blazer, shaking off the excess rain water from his clothes in the process. "Now that we're friends would you be able to give me a hug? I need a hug."

_Okay, hold up. Excuse me?_ The gears on Kei's brain were clinking and clanking as he processed the man's words, his mouth gaped in incredulity. After an awkward impasse, the younger man finally managed to put out a decent retort.

"First of all, it's Tsukishima. Second, we aren't friends," Kei wagged three fingers in front of him in kempt frustration, "and third--you need a _what_?"

"Awh, don't say that Tsukki." It's amazing how the guy could say it without blinking, even cocking his hip to the side to emphasize his point. "I badly need a friggin' hug, please."

Before Kei could open his mouth to protest on how outrageous the request was, the man was already in the seat adjacent to his in just three steps, grabbed his's right arm and threw it around his own shoulders. 

As much as he wanted to yank away the sudden contact, Tetsurou had started shivering almost immediately to the point his teeth were chattering. From strangers to support system real quick? Kei blinked as he tried to rationalize what just happened. He sat unmoving despite his reservations, as Kei wasn't so callous to deny a sick man his warmth.

"Mild hypothermia...?" 

  
Tetsurou tried his best to stop himself from shaking but failed miserably, "Y-yeah, I think so. I've been in the rain for too long walking here." 

  
Who in the right mind would walk that far during a named cyclone? Moreover, "...You could have asked nicely and I'd understand, Kuroo-san."

"N-nah, some p-people go for the shock value."

He really wanted to debate, but their unlikely proximity had offered Kei a perfect opportunity to study the weird man without hindrance instead. 

  
Tetsurou's face was pale due to the coldness, far from the sun-kissed skin he had on his arms, and was a stark contrast with his dark, wet hair. His eyes appeared a lighter shade of brown (maybe raw umber) up close, even through the dim lighting. Shadows accentuated his taut jawline, so sharp it could probably grate cheese with it. He smelled expensive, too. Probably an brand of French perfume he wouldn't be able to pronounce... And he was also probably shorter than him, but he felt huge and solid like a boulder, most especially that his dampened dress shirt generously hugged his physique. 

_Of course he would be fit,_ Kei resisted the urge to roll his eyes, _rich men have all the time in the world to do what they want._

"Done o-ogling?" 

Tetsurou appeared to be grinning slyly but wasn't looking in his direction. Thank gods he wasn't cause Kei's ears were swiftly steaming hot that he must have been flushing from that non-sense. 

"I wasn't ogling." Partially. Not really. What? "...I am no doctor but I was just thinking that your wet clothes don't help you."

"So you think _I_ should _get_ naked, Tsukki?"

  
"Wha–that's really not what I said. How come you don't stutter when you're spouting crude things?"

"It's f-fine though, lots of people offer me things to get me to strip." 

  
Tetsurou squirmed under his arm to start unbuttoning his shirt, still with an annoying smugness in his face, but the difference was he was meeting Kei eye to eye as if expecting to elicit a reaction. The latter made sure he returned the peering and not let his eyes venture _elsewhere_.

"I definitely didn't need to know that information." His free-hand dug into his backpack to get his well-favored purple pullover and prodded it against the man's chest to at least gain some breathing space. "I'm far too busy to remember such trivial things."

"Oooh, s-stingy." 

Tetsurou managed to squeeze the jest as he slid into the hoodie, but at least Kei was free to take his arm off him. Admittedly though, he looked... _younger_ in that color. It made made the color of his eyes pop from the background.

When he was fully dressed with the new garment, Tetsurou laid his head against the table, focus displaced from shivering to beaming unabashedly at the Kei.

"Hey, this is quite warm and comfy. Not bad. Can I keep this for the meantime?" 

He was about to remark something when the lights flickered to life and made him abandon his point. The old man walked in looking sour and disgruntled as quietly made his spot on counter.

"Sorry it took so long, and uh, I'll refund you for your drinks today–" Kei saw him looking at their direction with a bewildered expression which prompted him to retreat a feet away from the other. "You two...? Know...?"

"No, not really." He said quietly, but Tetsurou spoke louder, obviously feeling better a bit too soon.

"Pops, he's my friend now."

"Oh. Good for you." 

"Good for whom?" He wasn't sure what the old man really meant, but Kei hissed under his breath to which the other snicked. "I don't see it."

The owner winked to the dark-haired man then turned to tend to his usual tasks. Kei could only hope he'd actually get so lost in them he'd forget they were there.

"Geez, I know pops, we go a long way back. He's a kind family-man."

"Huh..." He never saw them talking though. Maybe the old man was scared of the guy. Maybe he owed Kuroo money? Maybe the dude was actually a loan shark and was preying on the poor old man. Damn, maybe he shouldn't have helped him. "Do you extort Yamato-san on a daily basis?"

"Ah, do I look like such a bad person, Tsukki?"

"Yeah."

Kei stiffly nodded and pretended to appraise him from head to toe, even though Tetsurou perfectly knew he was faking. 

"Oh, come on."

"Maybe if you refrained from calling me _that_ I'd change my answer."

"Tough luck, I'd still call you Tsukki, Tsukki." A hand reached to pat the other's knee in feigned reassurance, much to Kei's chagrin. "Besides, I'm a businessman. I look like a con-man but I'm actually very clean."

"That's exactly what a con-man would say, Kuroo-san."

  
Tetsurou started chortling, the kind that reaches one's eyes, and Kei just couldn't look away. He looked better this way than being on that uptight suit of his. He felt _summery_ and tangible and free, and seeing him loosen up made Kei a bit more at ease in his presence. 

He liked him this way. Not in _that_ sense but. He could say he's interested. 

"Can I ask a question though?" He paused and waited for permission. Kuroo's piercing gaze was burning on his face with his change of tone, all the humour gone and replaced with a mutual amount of curiosity.

"Why are you always cramped here? You probably have a stuffed bank account and lots of cars out there. You look too accomplished to frequent this," Unlike me, he added as an afterthought. "Given you're friends with the old man, but you don't have any reason to be here at all."

  
For a minute, the man kept his lips pursed together, brows knotted together in contemplation. Just when Kei actually began to think he brought up an intrusive subject, Tetsurou straightened up, a pensive expression adorning his visage, fingers tracing invisible lines against the laminated wood his arm was perched in.

"We all deserve a break from the real world, don't we?" Kei didn't answer the rhetoric, but Tetsurou appeared to be really deep in his thoughts.

"It's such a bad example, but while you get drowned in all these stuff that you do–" He pointed to the now forgotten document on screen and the books that were stacked up on the table, "–I'm out here to escape... Does that make sense?"

  
Yes it does. The way he spoke demonstrated how much gap there was not only to the way their lives played out, but also with their apparent maturity. The budding lines underneath Tetsurou's eyes were hard-earned, after all. Kei knew he was nowhere near that level of wisdom yet.

"I... get it. People like you who had achieved something do need to take a breather. But that's not for me. I can't be lenient until I get my PhD..." 

  
He trailed off, omitting the part that he was depending his whole self-worth on obtaining it.

"Hn, you're quite talkative when you're curious." His fingertips ventured far enough that they absentmindedly grazed Kei's, making the him jolt slightly and interrupt his self-deprecating thoughts.

"And I am aware you're chasing something, judging from the funny faces you always make while bashing your head against those books. You always order sweet things but you never finish them. You let your latte run stale and be mad at yourself afterwards. You always whisper odd things as you scribble. Sometimes you look like you want to pull your hair out of their roots when things don't go your way. But. It doesn't mean you can't run away for a moment, too. You're _too_ naive if you think that way."

  
In complete coincidence, Tetsurou's impassioned speech came to a halt at the same time as the downpour outside did, accommodating one moment of total clarity to pass. That exact moment was all it took for Kei came to know how much he'd been giving away unconsciously and just _how much_ the man had been considering him all this time.

  
There were lots of thoughts floating around that he couldn't decide which was the right one to deal with (if there was anything right at all; it was all based on feeble assumptions), but there was definitely something there. Probably embarrassment or frustration. Probably another thing altogether.

  
On the other hand, Tetsurou wasn't immune to it either. Kei saw how his mouth was partly parted in realization that he'd hinted something from his abrupt exposition. However, if there was something he gained from endless business meetings, it was that he was always quick to recover.

  
Too fast for Kei to cope, at least. _Darn it._

  
"Let's just say I love staring at pretty things, Tsukki. There's that."

The younger man scoffed and looked away, choosing to fixate on the budding flowers on the planters by the sill. He couldn't bear to meet those shiny, russet eyes as they were getting too sincere, he might just start believing the jest. He would open his mouth several times but only on the third one he'd get to at least sum up a fraction of his feelings.

"Kuroo-san...You're really annoying."

  
"Well," Tetsurou sounded all too pleased with himself, "I get that a lot these days."

***

The sun set beyond the crimson-streaked horizon, letting itself say goodbye through the storm's temporary respite. The pair sat wordless as they marveled how the skylights changed hues for every minute that passed and how it tinted each other's faces in a different glow, albeit through their peripheral.

  
When it was completely dark, it was Tetsurou who first budged, stretching his back out from his prolonged sitting, purposefully brushing his fingers against the younger man's hair along the way, then to his nape, and down to his back before letting his arms flop down to his sides.

Kei bit his lip at the touch, but when he looked at the man, he had to inwardly curse, because he had to concede that Tetsurou looked nice in that favorite, faded jacket of _his (_ putting the mismatch from the pants aside). And now that the man's hair was dry, it was a spiky, unruly mess, which frankly suited him better. It was sort of unfair how anyone could look as impeccable as this. He never looked that good in that attire.

  
"I guess that ends my lazy stint today."

  
"You're going?" He didn't mean to sound concerned, so he attempted to compensate. "I mean, yeah, you did stare at nothing for a good hour or so."

  
"Oh no, don't worry. I wasn't staring at _nothing_." 

  
The playful tone was back, strumming loudly on Kei's heartstrings and causing heat to rise up his ears again. Tetsurou could make his blood rush faster than caffeine does, which was mostly amazing but also very irksome in his part.

  
"I'll stay here for a bit more." He gestured between his books and the man opposite him. "I actually didn't do anything productive today, thanks to you," to which man smirked unashamedly.

  
"Uhuh, you're welcome." 

Tetsurou stood up to gather his discarded coat and the unattended belongings on the other side of the room. There were certain lines of hesitation in the way he moved despite the bravado, as if he didn't want to leave yet–but he needed to. He fully stopped when he was by the door and ready to go, but his gaze remained steadfast on the blonde's face. 

"Tsukki?"

Kei hated the fact that he was secretly actually enjoying how that name rolled off the man's tongue. "Hm?"

"Thanks for taking care of me today... Actually. Scratch that. Thanks for being _my_ escape."

Kei swallowed back the lump that formed on his throat as he struggled to keep his emotions in check, but then he exhales loudly to allow himself do something he rarely did: he boldly smiled back for the first the first time, and only heaven knows how silly he must have looked.

"See you on Thursday, Kuroo-san."

"Yeah," The man stepped out on the clear night with that ever-knowing grin, fully heeding the impliciations of his last statement. "It's a date."

Kei watched the tall figure disappear as he walked out into the main avenue, and when he finally brought his attention back to his uncatered dissertation, he saw a small, white card tucked underneath his mug.

**_GO GET THAT PHD._ **

It said at the top of the calling card with Kozume Kenma's name on it ( _the famous tech mogul Kodzume!_ ).

At the bottom there was another scribble of a name and number.

  
_Kuroo Tetsurou, PhD_  
_0268-86****7_  
_ PS. I'll help you land a sponsorship. _

The card felt too warm in his right palm as he chuckled in disbelief. 

But at least, Kei realized:

Life couldn't be entirely unforgiving, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first time joining a Kurotsuki fest in Ao3 so I'm excited! <3 I hope I'll be able to out out more content from hereon out. KRTSK RISE!!!


End file.
